I'm thinkin' W-I-D-E

[chinard]

Okay, Peeps...
I'm finally getting into the clear with my '82 CJ and i've got a bunch of customization projects that i'm planning, such as body work and possibly engine swap (in a couple of years)

One of the other projects that i wanted to get started on before the body work and engine swap would be widening my wheelbase substantialy. My biggest handling problem on my jeep right now is that it is just way to narrow and tends to be a little "tippy" if you know what imean.
I've seen a couple of jeeps around my area that have been widened by about 6"-12", so i know it can be done...
...The only question is, what is involved?

I'd like to hear from anybody who has widened their wheelbase (not with friggin' spacers) and what parts were needed to complete the conversion.[addsig]

[dingus]

probably want to go with some YJ axles if you want to get really wide. might be able to get 3" offset rims (3 on each side = 6" wider overall)... depends on how much money you have i guess :)[addsig]

[chinard]

is the TJ axles that much wider than the CJ?
Will i need to do anything special with the differnentials or is it a clean swap?
Would i need to do anything to the suspension or ball joints?

I'm trying to avoid spacers and offset rims for the simple reason that they place un-necesary wear and tear on the wheel bearings. I'd much rather have the wheelbase widened properly.

So many questions... :-([addsig]

[dingus]

i beleive that all YJ/TJ/XJ axles are the same width... certainly wider than your CJ... [addsig]

[Green97TJ]

Ive heard of people putting full width axles out of pickups and such under jeeps... that will really widen your wheelbase. i dont really know whats involved in it though, but surely you could find something online. Not sure if thats what you want, but its an idea[addsig]

[far_right]

i belive 82 was the first year when you could get wide trak axles on a cj, and in 83 they became standard, so unless you have narrow trak axles i bet tj-yj wont be any wider[addsig]

[Craig]

I was talking to a guy who lives in my area. He took the axles off a Ford f-350 and put them under his jeep. He's running 38" tires and has a chevy 327 under the hood. I asked him about the axles and he was telling me not to go with too large of an axle unless I planned on running large tires to compensate for the increased size of the diff which will reduce your clearance under your axle. You also have to look into the bylaws of your area for how much tire you can have sticking out the sides of your jeep. This guy had to custom make some flares to cover up the tires. Out here, we're only aloud to have 1 inch sticking out the sides.[addsig]

[chinard]

I'll have to look into the wide trak/narrow trak on my jeep. I'm thinking that i probably have the narrow trak, but i'd have to measure to find out for sure.
Anybody have the specs on how long the wide trak axles would be?

I was already planning the flare extensions, thats why i wanted to get into this BEFORE i had to deal with redoing the body.

The Ford f-350 sounds interesting... Offhand, do you know how much wider they are and what else had to be replaced (other than bigger tires which i'm getting anyways)
[addsig]

[PatriotJeep]

Chinard,

Be careful not to go cheep on this mod. A lot of the kids around here just went and put wider offset wheels on there standard axels and now they are having all sorts of problems with bearings and spindels now. Some of the guys I have seen are running the D-44 out of the older fullsize Cherokees and Wagoneers. Seems to be a pretty straight foreward swap for someone with some fabrication skills.

Todd[addsig]

[far_right]

i think the diff of wide/narrow is something like 4 inches like 56-59 or 59-63 inches...[addsig]